Monthly Archives: March 2016

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“A certain slave girl possessed with a spirit….followed Paul and cried out, saying, ‘These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.’ And this she did for many days.” (Acts 16:16-18)

When you decide to let your name be put up for an elected office–keep in mind, I write for pastors primarily–choose carefully your recommender.

The person giving the nominating speech can make you or break you.

It wasn’t so much that what the demon-possessed girl of Philippi said about Paul and Silas was wrong. It’s only that she was crazy, pardon the expression.

She was not qualified to be recommending anyone.

Her recommendation was the worst thing imaginable. People who knew her scoffed at the recommendation she gave these preachers. I can hear them laughing. “If she thinks they are hot stuff, we’d better be careful. They’re probably as looney tunes as she is.”

Some recommendations are to be eschewed. (After 14 years of blogging, this is the first occasion I’ve used “eschewed.” It’s about time!)

“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus” (I Thessalonians 4:14).

If Jesus really did rise from the dead as Scripture claims and Christians hold, then nothing is the same and everything has changed forever.

The reason Christians are positively giddy about the Easter Event–the resurrection of Jesus–is that in walking out of that tomb and leaving it forever empty, He broke the stranglehold in which death had held humanity.

We are free. We are free forever. We are free to live forever.

It doesn’t get any better than this.

Everything stands or falls on whether Jesus rose from the dead that first Easter Sunday morning.

“Faithful is He who called you, and He will bring it to pass” (I Thessalonians 5:24)

If God starts something, He will see it through to the end.

And that’s how I pray the way I do:

“Lord, these are your children. They would not exist without Your love. Had you not laid it on my wife’s heart to adopt a foreign child, and later pulled me to the same decision, their mama would still be in Korea and these three granddaughters would never have been born.”

“Therefore, Lord, I feel a special confidence in interceding on their behalf. They are your responsibility. They were your doing. They are yours.”

Nathan’s father passed away a couple of months ago, after battling an awful disease for three or four years. They had the blessing of knowing in advance what was coming; they had the awful burden of knowing in advance what was coming. Recently, he and I were talking about what people say when your loved one dies. I asked for his experience on the subject. This is what he wrote….

Someone just this morning expressed her sympathy for the loss of my dad. It reminded me that I still had this partial thought process typed out. If it turns out that any of this is useful fodder for one of your articles that would be great to read. I always appreciate your point of view. (and I even agree with it occasionally) Actually I mostly agree. (Joe: Buttering up the web-host is always a good idea, Nathan.)

My first thoughts on this topic were based on the biblical accuracy of things that are said after someone dies. Do people really believe what they say? If they do, where did they get those philosophies? I’m not suggesting there is a list of approved biblical phrases to use in this situation, only asking that we consider why folks craft and continue to
perpetuate these flawed notions. I believe there is a danger turning faith into fairy tale for our own comfort. At the same time it may help us to approach someone with biblical truths after we understand their line of thinking.

A servant asks: “What can I do for you?” “How may I help you?” “Can I do anything for you?”

But there is one question a true servant (as opposed to an employee) is not allowed to ask:

“What’s in it for me?”

My opinion is that the typical church in this country lives by the maxim: “If it doesn’t make us better or look better or feel better, we will not do it.”

What’s in it for our church?

I’m thinking of a little family in dire need of a healthy church and what it could provide for them. Over the years, a relative who is a pastor made a point of putting them in touch with at least one church in the various communities where they lived. Several of the churches responded well at first, then promptly dropped the family. Once they learned this family was going to be difficult, that they were not “low hanging fruit” (meaning “easy pickings”) they moved on. Once they found out this family was complicated and was not ready to join anybody’s church, they had no heart for the game.

The typical church loves to reach people who are reachable, who will fit within their fellowship, and will not require a lot of maintenance or difficult ministry.

The typical church–I am well aware of the dangers of using such a nebulous term, but please allow me the freedom to do so–lives for itself. The Kingdom of God ends at the edge of the parking lot.

I was second in line at the traffic light. My lane and the one to my right were all turning left onto Dauphin Street in Mobile. The third lane was turning right.

We sat through through three sequences of lights. Meanwhile, the line of cars behind us grew longer and longer.

Clearly, the light was malfunctioning, but only on our side. Traffic from the other directions was receiving the correct sequence of lights. Our light stayed red.

I was traveling home from a revival in Selma, Alabama, and had stopped for a late-morning breakfast at the Cracker Barrel. After a fairly demanding week with 1500 miles of driving, I was relaxed now and willing to sit there in the traffic without getting impatient.

But not all day.

Finally, I had had enough. The light was not working and the cars in front of me were showing no inclination to move.